A Bad Hire is Still A Bad Hire in a Candidate Shortage

A Bad Hire is Still A Bad Hire in a Candidate Shortage

The Pros and Cons of Hiring “Just About Anyone” in a candidate shortage.

Finding the ideal candidate for a job may seem a luxury in today’s marketplace – where many industries are plagued with employee shortages that are causing harm to their brand, their customers, and their bottom line. Hiring a warm body just because they are ready and willing may seem like the answer, but are these hires causing more headaches and costing you more in the long run?  Predictive analytics and employee behavioral assessments can help you foresee a candidate’s on-the-job behaviors (the good, the bad and the ugly) BEFORE you hire. 


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Data Analysis

 Data Analysis on Frontline Workers:
One client we work with examined their data on voluntary and involuntary turnover to understand the types of workers that were more likely to be terminated:
Top 3 Traits of Involuntary Terminations: More Anxious, More Reactive, Lower Positive Attitude
Top 3 Traits of those who voluntarily left the job within the first 3 months: High Open Communication, More Outgoing/Extraverted, More Empathetic 
Top 3 Traits of a GOOD HIRE leading to longer tenure: Task focused rather than people-focused, Stress-tolerant, Non-anxious. These workers were able to focus and be patient, not bored or distracted easily.
Conclusion: With the current candidate shortage it is difficult for organizations. Less than ideal candidates must be hired. However, in order to avoid spending valuable company resources on employees who will not stay, TalentClick reports will help avoid hires that result in a ‘net loss’ for the organization.

  

Our client soon learned that without assessments, they were spending more on turnover and safety incidents by filling the role with the wrong person.

Understand the Pros and Cons of hiring “just about anyone” in a candidate shortage.

PROS

The pros of hiring anyone in a candidate shortage are:

  • Short-term gains in productivity 
  • Fewer work stoppages or service interruptions
  • Short-term relief for existing employees who are overworked
  • Candidate may be able to be coached and trained to fill gaps safely

CONS

The cons of hiring anyone in a candidate shortage may not be so obvious. Some cons to consider are:

  • Unsafe workers can put themselves and other top performers at risk – leading to injury to themselves or others, work stoppages, and property damage 
  • High costs to hire and train workers who don’t work out long term
  • Risk of turnover among top performers who feel less safe in the role
  • Risk of brand and reputation damage from increased incidents
  • Management headaches while working with unsafe employees

“[TalentClick has been] game-changing in the way we trained trades. I don’t think anything else made as much of a difference. Even if someone had a less than ideal score, before hiring them we asked ourselves:
‘Is this a behavior I can manage?‘”

— Manager, Talent Acquisition, Natural Resources

 

While these cons may not appear obvious up front, they can cause organizations million dollar losses in reputation, time and money. Having safe hires and a positive brand image will do more to ensure your ability to attract and retain future strong candidates than a poor record of high turnover and  workplace safety incidents.

Predict Safety Behaviors with SQ:

TalentClick employee behavioral safety risk assessment takes only 7 minutes and provides easy-to-interpret results that allow organizations to know exactly who they are hiring – whether they are a potential top performer or a candidate who may need more coaching support. Knowing who you hire is the first step in understanding any potential risk.

Learn more about TalentClick’s Safety Quotient and start making better, safer hiring decisions now!

Start a 7-Day SQ Trial!